Mayweather-McGregor Streaming Glitches Prompt Lawsuit Against Showtime (hollywoodreporter.com) 118
Customers who paid $99.99 to watch the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather fight are suing Showtime due to the quality of their stream and buffering issues. From a report via Hollywood Reporter: Portland, Ore., boxing fan Zack Bartel paid to stream the fight in high-definition through the Showtime app but says all he saw was "grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls." Bartel is suing Showtime for unlawful trade practices and unjust enrichment, alleging the network rushed its pay-per-view streaming service to the market without securing the bandwidth necessary to support the scores of cable-cutting fans. The complaint, which is largely composed of screenshots and tweets, is seeking for each member of the class actual damages or $200 in statutory damages, whichever is greater. The proposed class includes Oregon consumers who viewed Showtime's app advertisement on iTunes and paid $99.99 to stream the fight, but were unable to view the fight live on the app "in HD at 1080p resolution and at 60 frames per second, and who experienced ongoing grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls instead." Showtime senior vp sports communications director, Chris DeBlasio, says: "We have received a very limited number of complaints and will issue a full refund for any customer who purchased the event directly from Showtime and were unable to receive the telecast." DeBlasio recommends users contact their cable or satellite provider if they experienced any issues.
Here in Seattle... (Score:2, Funny)
I don't know anyone with a connection fast enough to stream, so they're obviously not taking about us.
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I don't know anyone with a connection fast enough to stream, so they're obviously not taking about us.
Ain't that the truth. Not to mention data caps now.
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But now you know that is Showtime's fault. Sue!
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I too will now make a foolish purchase (Score:2, Funny)
I'm going to spend a hundred to buy a nice dinner and movie, enjoy a game of mini golf, give a few bucks to charity, and then go on Amazon to buy a miniature violin. Said violin should also prove useful when dealing with people who pay a thousand dollars for an "Ivery(TM)" plastic backscratcher.
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I'll need to see an itemized receipt for how/where you can do all that for $100. Not saying it can't be done, but ...
Re:I too will now make a foolish purchase (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, read your post too quickly and assumed it was dinner and a movie for *two* people. $100 should be enough, my bad.
Re:I too will now make a foolish purchase (Score:5, Funny)
assumed it was dinner and a movie for *two* people
How can you assume this ? This slashdot, right ?
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Well, dinner + movie you'd be looking somewhere like the Alamo Drafthouse (if they weren't sexist shits). Picking Austin on the grounds it's somewhere I know better than most places in the US, you're looking at $11 for the movie, $15 for a decent burger, lets round up to $35 per person to include a drink. Follow that with a round at the Peter Pan Mini Golf that's nearby, another $7 per person.
So you've spent $85 for a night out for two people, throw three dollars at a homeless person, buy https://www.amazon [amazon.com]
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I do it roughly every weekend (minus charity.) AYCE Sushi for 2 (myself and my husband) - $40. Movies for 2 (we hate popcorn and rarely drink soda) - $15. Mini golf for 2 - $15 ($20 if I play in the arcades.) That leaves me $20-25 for charity and a tiny violin.
https://www.amazon.com/Instrum... [amazon.com] - there's the violin for $10. That leaves me with $10-15 for charity.
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AYCE Sushi for 2 (myself and my husband) - $40
So nothing but the best Ahi tuna for you, huh? :)
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So you don't care about fraud and corruption so long as you have a reason to make fun of the victim? Nice.
I will take your "few bucks" and add a zero or two.
That's not a pissing match you are going to win.
Re: I too will now make a foolish purchase (Score:2)
I think it's pretty hilarious you're angrily declaring you'll do more good than me while getting annoyed that I don't feel compassion for one percenter problems. I'd be angry if someone stole a nickel from a child. This...fails to measure up against a gas pump not charging properly.
Waste of Time (Score:1)
You know there's some fine print about may not be blah, blah, blah, etc. blah. Basically they aren't responsible. They'll blame your hardware, the cable company, Trump, the RUSSIANS, and everyone else they can. Just think next time before you wad 100 bucks up and throw it away.
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I'm not sure why anyone pays for this shit anyway. Go to your local bar and spend the $hundred on beer and snacks support your local business and watch the show for free. The atmosphere is usually much better than at home or the actual event.
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The pub around the corner from me is undergoing refurbishment so I'm down to two pubs a mile away or my local which is 600 yards away. Plus the bar at the gym that's 800 yards away.
You really have to drive to get to a bar? Bad planning..
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You may want to slow down and read carefully. It's amazing how much this might help you understand what was actually written, rather than what you thought was written.
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Terrusts? Getting hacked? Or drunk paddies?
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The company said they'll give refunds so can't see how this complaint has any legs. I'm not sure why anyone pays for this shit anyway. Go to your local bar and spend the $hundred on beer and snacks support your local business and watch the show for free. The atmosphere is usually much better than at home or the actual event.
Exactly this! As a card carrying introvert, the bar environment is the perfect place to watch boxing bar none..
And I don't have the wife telling me that boxing is brutal (duh) or thinking I'm watching gay porn if I have an MMA fight on.
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Well, to be honest...
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Well, to be honest...
I know. Just did a DuckDuckGo search on MMA porn, and sure enough, there is a lot of it. But it's like the real thing is almost a Poe thing.
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...wanna know how I know you watch Wrestlehard? :D
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Most local bars were charging admission for this (or any big fight). Typically $20-50 per person.
Also, a lot of people who are purchasing the fight for home viewing are hosting parties. I'd much rather view the fight with 15-20 friends than with 100-200 strangers.
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Most local bars were charging admission for this (or any big fight). Typically $20-50 per person.
You must live in a strange place. Pubs are where most people go to watch major sporting events and I've never heard of any charging a door fee.
I'd much rather view the fight with 15-20 friends than with 100-200 strangers.
Personal preference I guess. You can't beat a vocal crowd for atmosphere...
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Just an idiot making noise (Score:1)
If he actually goes ahead with the suit, he's likely to be counter sued; and he'll probably lose.
Unless he's a total idiot, he'll take the offer of a refund.
Re:Just an idiot making noise (Score:5, Informative)
He can't prove the problems were caused by Showtime. Most likely they were caused by his internet provider.
Yep, because the fight was totally delayed due to the streaming issues because of a bunch of end user ISPs.
Re:Just an idiot making noise (Score:5, Interesting)
He can't prove the problems were caused by Showtime. Most likely they were caused by his internet provider.
Unlikely to the extreme: these problems were reported so widely, Showtime even moved the main event to mitigate the problems caused by the unresponsive servers.
If he actually goes ahead with the suit, he's likely to be counter sued; and he'll probably lose.
Countersued? For what? At this point I think you must be trolling.
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He can't prove the problems were caused by Showtime. Most likely they were caused by his internet provider.
Unlikely to the extreme: these problems were reported so widely, Showtime even moved the main event to mitigate the problems caused by the unresponsive servers.
If he actually goes ahead with the suit, he's likely to be counter sued; and he'll probably lose.
Countersued? For what? At this point I think you must be trolling.
It was one of those educational and cultural moments that lift all humans to a more enlightened plane.
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"Countersued? For what?"
Violation of the arbitration clause in his service contract.
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Re: Just an idiot making noise (Score:1)
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Most likely they were caused by his internet provider.
So, a net neutrality problem then?
Showtime should just refund anyone who had problems their $100. And then go after the ISPs for throttling or otherwise harming their streaming feed and costing them the refund.
Waaaaa! (Score:1)
One disgruntled 'sportsfan' complained
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Misery? Did you see any of the fight
No. I'll be honest, I don't understand why anyone would pay $99 to see that. Basically every other sporting event is free......why do you have to pay to see this one?
Re:Waaaaa! (Score:5, Informative)
No. I'll be honest, I don't understand why anyone would pay $99 to see that. Basically every other sporting event is free......why do you have to pay to see this one?
You must not watch many sporting events if you think most of them are "free". Almost none of them are actually free and those that are "free" are nothing but wall to wall advertisements. If you have a cable subscription in the US odds are you pay a lot of money to ESPN whether you intend to watch or not. Lots of games are not available unless you pay a subscription to specific channels.
You want to know why it was pay-per-view for $100? Because people are willing to pay it and because that's how boxing has made their money for decades. Boxing, MMA, and a few other events happen irregularly and the parties involved vary so a one time fee to watch the event makes sense. Rather than pay a subscription like you do to get ESPN, they simply charge a fee for the event itself. The price of the PPV depends on the interest it generates. A LOT of people wanted to see this fight so the price was relatively high. It's no different than the Super Bowl charging more money for ads than most other events. They know they have a big audience interested so they can charge more. Same thing just a different payment model.
Most sports are moving to some variation of a PPV model. Only a few can command the money to have space on dedicated television networks. The more niche the sport the more likely it is that some type of PPV makes sense. To be honest it's kind of refreshing to actually only pay for the sporting events you actually want to watch. I wish more televised entertainment was ala-carte like that.
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...Boxing, MMA, and a few other events happen irregularly and the parties involved vary so a one time fee to watch the event makes sense...
MMA events are irregular? the upcoming PPV schedule for UFC is 2 Sep, 7 Oct, 4 Nov, 2 Dec, and 30 Dec.
That monthly schedule is so regular you can adjust your budget for it.
Regular (Score:2)
MMA events are irregular? the upcoming PPV schedule for UFC is 2 Sep, 7 Oct, 4 Nov, 2 Dec, and 30 Dec.
Yes that is irregular in this context. Regular in this context means weekly or more often. There are ~16 NFL games every week during the season. NASCAR has a race every weekend. MLB has games basically daily from May through October. MMA by comparison might happen at routine intervals but it is not at a standard or frequent time. It's just a different financial model. Not better or worse, just different.
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"2 Dec, and 30 Dec."
Except there's two periods in one month right there.
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Misery? Did you see any of the fight
No. I'll be honest, I don't understand why anyone would pay $99 to see that. Basically every other sporting event is free....
Ah, so charitable donations must explain the millions sports professionals get paid. After all, there's no revenue when every other sporting event is free, right?
Talk about delusional...
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I paid in a couple hours worth of advertisement viewing.
I didn't pay cash, no, but I paid with my time, and someone else paid cash to buy that time.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, you're paying for it somehow. Some methods are more convenient than others.
For intermittent events like high profile combat sport events fit a pay-per-view model much better than an advertising model. To make advertising work for the UFC, for example, they'd have to be wall to wall advertisements all over the stadiums, wit
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Misery? Did you see any of the fight
No. I'll be honest, I don't understand why anyone would pay $99 to see that. Basically every other sporting event is free......why do you have to pay to see this one?
Every other sporting event is free??? what Universe do you live in as it certainly aint this one? The vast majority of high profile sporting Events are some form of pay per view or subscription channel.
Re: Waaaaa! (Score:1)
If they love it so much why not just beat each other to death for the fun of it I and anyone who likes that can watch for the fun of it?
It seems as though people today (yep, get off my lawn!) do _things_ only because (a) they're being paid to or (b) they're paid in likes after submitting images to prove they've done the thing. What the duck?
History Lesson (Score:5, Informative)
During the 1980's the big thing was to go to a stadium and watch a fight on a large projection screen. Price was $50. ($160 in 2017 money.)
One fight lasted less than a minute. No refunds.
Re:History Lesson (Score:5, Informative)
One fight lasted less than a minute. No refunds.
1980's boxing events werent single fight though. While Mike Tyson often finished off his opponent somewhere in the first 3 rounds, it was still a multi-hour event with other weight classes often also having important bouts.
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"So in other words, they bundle fights like cable companies bundle packages to make you feel like you're getting a decent deal."
Apparently you've never looked at the ranking system, boxing rules/regulations, etc. Multi-class exhibitions are standard fare for boxing matches. How else do fighters get known if each full-scale event only has one fight that lasts maybe 20 minutes at best?
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No. There were PPV sporting events during the 80s.
Some of us were actually alive then and remember this stuff.
They charged an insane amount for Star Wars when it finally hit PPV.
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Well, I was also alive and remember they did do these events.
Go to Google Images and type:1980 closed circuit boxing
You'll see several posters for these closed circuit broadcasts. They occurred at civic centers and convention halls. Not to just anyone who had a cable box.
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How did they manage to mess this up so hard?
Some major chess events also experience unfathomable streaming problems. I think the issue is that the people hired to manage the streaming are the same people they previously hired to set up their low traffic web pages.
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Not sure what made me laugh harder; trying to compare chess to boxing in terms of demand, or claiming that the 37 people watching a "major" chess event somehow created unfathomable streaming problems.
The last WCC had an estimated 2 million people simultaneously streaming the live event feed, and these streaming viewers were allowed to switch between 3 different camera views. Lots of other streaming coverage was also available, with live analysis by various GM's taking place. All told the estimated viewership was between 100 and 200 million people. Thats very similar to boxing, you dumb ignorant fuck.
Limited Number (Score:2)
We have received a very limited number of complaints
Well then maybe all the people attending the actual event should sue then for the unjust delay to the fight caused by streaming issues, if they were actually so limited.
EULA (Score:1)
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So what? It's like those trucks hauling rocks with big "not responsible for broken windshields" signs. You can SAY you're not responsible for something all day and, like those signs, your EULA might discourage people from doing something about it perhaps, but in the end you are absolutely responsible for things you do and things you control. Paying $100 to watch a fight is very different from paying $100 to MAYBE watch a fight due to circumstances you have no control over.
Now, you're going to point out t
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"it isn't realistic to load test it under actual live circumstances when those circumstances differ sharply from normal use"
Bullshit. We have VMs for just this reason - spawn up a fuckton of instances and connect to the service to see if it can handle the load. Make the automated connections spread themselves out or clusterfuck together so you can see where your weaknesses lie.
This is basic fucking IT work, boss. Hell, this is basic network building - ensure you've got the bandwidth and connection capabilit
Re: EULA (Score:1)
Dammit, the RIAA was right! (Score:4, Funny)
Pirates are getting an inferior product. Instead of watching the fight flawlessly, they could have watched it with stutter and get paid for it now!
Re:Dammit, the RIAA was right! (Score:4, Interesting)
Fucking Hooli (Score:2)
Another class action looking for profit. (Score:2)
each member of the class actual damages or $200 in statutory damages, whichever is greater
Minus the class action chasing lawyer fees, good luck with that.
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> Minus the class action chasing lawyer fees, good luck with that.
The standard for the lawyer's cut is a third. That still leaves you with a judgement larger than the price of the fight.
multicast streaming? (Score:2, Interesting)
What ever happened to multicast streaming? I thought there was a big push for that a decade or so ago so one stream could service thousands of endpoints simultaneously in order to alleviate disasters like this.
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Thousands of endpoints versus millions of endpoints. You do the math.
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> Live sports is where cable/sat tv still reign supreme. Sit down in front of the TV, put the game/match whatever on and it just works. No buffer, no putzing with computers.
Why do you think there would be "putzing with computers" for a streamed PPV event in 2017? Specialized devices have been available for quite some time now.
Except now a "cable outage" impacts everyone rather than just a single cable market.
If I'm spending a hundred bucks to watch something (Score:2)
I expect I'm going to be watching it in a theater, on a 30 foot screen, or else as a live performance.
I cannot even begin to comprehend how a person would think that is a worthwhile investment to watch at home.
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I cannot even begin to comprehend how a person would think that is a worthwhile investment to watch at home.
For a single person, yes that's insane. However, most people get a bunch of their friends together and everyone throws in a little bit.
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I was a kid when Mike Tyson was ascendant in the heavyweight ranks. My step-father used to have a few friends over for like $5.00 each and order the fight.
That was back when 4 friends at $5.00 each would cover the PPV.
LK
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> I cannot even begin to comprehend how a person would think that is a worthwhile investment to watch at home.
I have a 10 foot screen. Anything less than an XD or IMAX screen (at a closer than halfway back the house) is going to be a LESS compelling experience than what many of us have at home.
Even with a big screen, if the house isn't set up properly it's going to be inferior. A local house with those posh recliners is like this because of how seats are laid out. The screen is great but there's really n
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Presumably that is the reason that one would be willing to spend a hundred bucks to watch something in the first place. That's a half-day's work at living wage where I live... why would anyone want to spend that kind of hard earned money on being entertained for such a short time in their own friggen home? I would imagine t
Sue hapy (Score:1)
Burn your money (Score:3)
Paying $99.99 to watch two large sweaty men punch each other for a while?
I'm finding it really hard to sympathise with these people.
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to watch two large sweaty men
Large?
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>> to watch two large sweaty men
> Large?
The person that called McGreggor a Leprechaun really wasn't exaggerating. =D
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They're large if you go by weight class - they're both three classes above me (though that means nothing when it comes to technical ability and my nearly 80cm reach. Us tall and lanky outboxers get our wins by keeping the opponent the fuck away from us. Mayweather's got reach but no connection capability unless you're in close. A few taps to the side of his temple and he's done for, it's one of the weakest points he has because it's always been guarded and not hit so often as to be able to know and withstan
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What, you've never watched Bumfights?
Most of those were far more entertaining than the MacGregor/Mayweather match, and usually last only a couple of minutes.
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